John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerAn aerial view of the Essex County Airport. An Arizona man was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison today for a 2008 arrest in which he was found to have roughly $5 million in heroin and cocaine in his possession.

FAIRFIELD — An Arizona man busted with nearly $5 million of heroin and cocaine when leaving a Fairfield airport in 2008 was sentenced today to nearly 20 years in prison.

The 59 pounds of heroin flown into the airport was the most ever seized by Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement from a plane in the United States.

When Lorenzo Alvarez landed his Cessna Skyhawk at the small Essex County Airport on Nov. 21, 2008 he off-loaded three suitcases and two bags filled with 182 pounds of drugs into a rental car and headed toward New York City, according to police and testimony and documents filed in court.

But investigators from the Department of Homeland Security had received information Alvarez would be flying that day and coordinated with Fairfield police to pull him over as he left the airport grounds.

Alvarez’s rented Chevrolet Aveo was stopped less than a mile from the airport on Passaic Avenue for failure to maintain a lane or wear seatbelts.

In the baggage, police found 59 pounds of heroin and 123 pounds of cocaine wrapped in dozens of foil packages.

Alvarez previously pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

Charges filed against a 25-year-old woman who was traveling with Alvarez when the drugs were confiscated were dismissed.